Quentin Tarantino’s original ‘Pulp Fiction’ cast requests
Looking back at one Pulp Fiction, of Quentin Tarantino‘s early masterpieces, it’s easy to get lost in its cultural magnitude. A unique proposition, the movie changed the landscape of Hollywood and created a chasm of independent filmmaking that needed to be filled by the mainstream. While it might well be the best movie of his career, it wasn’t an immaculate conception. Pulp Fiction was not without its issues and studio problems. One of those issues was the ensemble Tarantino wanted to create and the cast he originally wanted in the now-iconic roles.
While Tarantino’s most recent project, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, includes a who’s who of acting fame spearheaded by Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, the director has always demonstrated a very specific viewpoint when trying to find the perfect performer for his curated roles. In many cases, as his movie career has developed and grown, Tarantino has found himself selecting actors specifically for certain roles.
But Tarantino’s penchant for detailed early cast requests has always played a major part in his film creation. Take, for example, the 1994 bonanza Pulp Fiction when the director marked out an early shopping list for his now-iconic project, which makes for an interesting read. For example, while Uma Thurman earned cult status in her role as Mia Wallace’s character, earning an Oscar nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actress’, she wasn’t initially earmarked for a role at all. The duo would leap from this moment and become firm friends and collaborators, most famously coming together for the Kill Bill franchise.
On top of that John Travolta, who was also nominated for an Oscar for ‘Best Actor’, was not an early pick for Tarantino despite being “strong, strong second choice”. Travolta only managed to land the role of Vincent when Tarantino’s first choice, Michael Madsen, opted for a role in a different film. It has been suggested that Madsen’s role in Reservoir Dogs was meant to extend to Pulp Fiction, with the movie acting as a prequel to the bloodthirsty Vic Vega’s ear-cutting ceremony. However, when Madsen turned down the role, it became Vincent Vega, a new fraternal addition to the Tarantino Universe.
The likes of Johnny Depp, Nicholas Cage, Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Alec Baldwin and Francis Coppola were all mentioned in the award-winning director’s wish list.
The director would have to fight tooth and nail to get his desired cast after the studio Miramax sent their own cast requests via fax before shooting began. As noted by other sources, they liked Eddie Murphy for the role of Jules while also considering Danny DeVito for Harvey Keitel’s iconic role of ‘The Wolf’. Imagining the minimal yet powerful figure of DeVito in the role of The Wolf would have certainly amped the comic relief, but Murphy as Jules is perhaps a step too far.
“Back then, I got much more excited by cool casting,” Tarantino said a recent interview with Vulture. “I liked the idea of taking an actor I’ve always liked but wasn’t being used much anymore and putting him in the movie and showing people what he could do. But I don’t feel that way anymore. Now it’s all about my characters.”
Find the original pre-approved list below and further details below.
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